• “Clearly we have a hydration problem when it comes to legal product,” he said. “Great cannabis involves curing properly and packaging it properly, then shipping it out. If it’s grown and cured properly, and stored and packaged properly, there should be no issue in the products consumers are buying.”

• Hirsh said this should work in theory, “Yet the product ends up crunchy.” Many REC products are shipped with moisture packs designed to never get palpably dry and crunchy—even as they do run out of moisture, particularly in non-airtight containers.
• A lack of airtightness is the problem, yet LPs are motivated by the desire to ship products as quickly as possible (rather than storing them to cure them). Hirsh said “storage and time” are money losers for LPs.

Quick Hits

1. An American publication said Canada’s three greatest “legalization missteps” were stocks traded “on fantasy,” Ontario and Quebec’s slow rollout of REC retail stores, and the delay in bringing edibles to market.
   Green Entrepreneur
2. Veterans and retired RCMP officers are now eligible for up to a $300 reimbursement on MED vaporizers from Veterans Affairs Canada.
   Health Europa

• Silicon Cali is accepting pre-orders for a different $5,000 “laser bong” called the B-Laze (pictured above).
• The company also sells a “plasma portal” lighter for $70.

Quick Hit

1. Christian-themed cartoon series “Veggie Tales” created a cannabis character, Cannabis Carl, jokes satire site Babylon Bee.
2. Following negotiations with the player’s union, the NFL appears likely to adopt a more lenient cannabis policy.
   Washington Post

• LPP estimates there are 40,000 people locked up for non-violent cannabis offenses.
• The program also aims to train returned offenders for jobs in cannabis.

Quick Hit

1. In Massachusetts, aspiring equity entrepreneurs say the system isn’t working.
   Boston Globe

• The company has backing from Silicon Valley tycoon Peter Thiel.

• “In some circles, psychedelics are still associated with escape from the real world and irresponsible extravagance,” Thiel said in an email. “With FDA-controlled studies, we will come to see that their most powerful use brings people to mental health and sober sanity in a medical setting.”
• Studies have found ibogaine reduces symptoms of opioid withdrawal more effectively than methodone.
• “Patients have described their experience as a sobering trip that visualizes the negative consequences of drug abuse,” an executive with Atai partner DemeRx said. The procedure requires 24 hours of clinical monitoring since ibogaine has been linked to heart side effects.

Quick Hit

1. An Oregon company called Silo Wellness has designed a “magic-mushroom nasal spray” intended for medical uses.

• The tribe is based in Oklahoma, which has a freewheeling MED industry.
• The Paiute are the only U.S. tribe I’m aware of which has entered the industry. It runs the NuWu Cannabis Marketplace in Las Vegas, one of the world’s largest dispensaries.

Quick Hit

1. After several delays, Mexico could legalize REC in April.
   Marijuana Moment

• The study “found heavy cannabis users using a driving simulator hit more pedestrians, missed more stop signs and red lights, drove faster, and left their lane more often than non-users, even after abstaining from the drug for at least 12 hours.”
• However, those who took up cannabis after age 16 didn’t exhibit the same behaviors.
• It was the first study to find poor driving performance by cannabis users when they are not actively high.

• The company says it has sold 150,000 cans of its “social tonics” since they debuted in May.
• Investors include Imaginary, an early stage VC fund started by the founder of the Net-a-Porter group, and cannabis company JM10.

• REC won’t be legalized in Ohio or Florida this year. Marijuana Policy Project‘s Matthew Schweich said campaigns cost less money in smaller states and each comes with two U.S. Senators.

• Cybersecurity site VPNMentor names dispensaries in Maryland, Ohio and Colorado where customers were affected. The story also goes into the risks for customers and businesses.
• The leak shows how the cannabis industry is “a privacy nightmare waiting to happen.”
  The Daily Beast

• The industry figures “wanted Jared to be more involved, maybe help push the agenda with the president because they felt that that was something he needed to be more lenient on,” Parnas said. 
• A dinner attendee said Trump and Kushner recognized that “the tension between federal and state marijuana laws needs work.”

• Trump said the drug makes people “lose IQ points” and that they “have more accidents” in Colorado.

• Trump seemed to express surprise that cannabis companies can’t access banks, adding, “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
• Regarding legalization, Parnas said “It’s so far out you’re not going to stop it” and suggested federal reform could help with the midterm elections. Trump did not respond directly.
• In the recording, Donald Trump Jr. can be heard saying “alcohol does much more damage” than cannabis and that “You don’t see people beating their wives on marijuana…It’s just different.”
• Parnas’ lawyer Joseph Bondy is also involved in a case challenging cannabis’ federal illegality.
  Marijuana Moment

• Also last week, WeedWeek‘s Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) made the case for removing Trump from office.
  @RepAdamSchiff

1. MJBiz looks at the prospects for federal reform in 2020. The short version: Banking has the best shot. Marijuana Moment has more on the banking situation.